Eight police officers were killed in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Friday, President Gustavo Petro said, the deadliest attack on security forces since he took office promising to end the country's nearly 60-year conflict.
Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla, has pledged to seek "total peace" by restarting talks with leftist ELN rebels, applying a 2016 peace accord to former FARC guerrilla fighters who reject it and negotiating the surrender of crime gangs in exchange for reduced sentences.
"I forcefully reject the attack with explosives in San Luis, Huila where eight police died. Solidarity with their families," Petro said on Twitter. "These acts are a clear sabotage to total peace. I have asked authorities to go to the area to take on the investigation."
